This article contains several methods you can use to type or insert the Trademark or TM symbol (™) anywhere like Microsoft Word or Excel, whether you are using the Windows or the Mac keyboard.
Without any further ado, let’s get started.
Trademark (or TM) symbol Quick Guide
To type the Trademark or TM Symbol anywhere (like in Word or Excel), press Option + 2 shortcut for Mac. If you are on Windows, simply press down the Alt key and type 0153 using the numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard.
However, to type the trademark symbol in Microsoft Word, press Ctrl+Alt+T. Alternatively, just type 2122 and then press Alt + X to get the symbol in your Word document for Windows users.
The table below contains everything you need to type this symbol on both Windows and Mac.
| Symbol Name | Trade Mark |
| Symbol | ™ |
| Alt Code | 0153 |
| Windows Shortcut | Alt + 0153 |
| Shortcut for Mac | Option + 2 |
| Shortcut for Word 1 | Ctrl + Alt + T |
| Shortcut for Word 2 | 2122, Alt X |
Whether you are using Windows or Mac, the above information is all you need to get the TM sign into your Word/Excel document.
However, if you are not satisfied with this quick help, keep reading below as I will explain in detail, how to insert this or any other symbol anywhere on your Mac or Windows PC like in MS Word or Excel.
As you may already know, there are several dual-purpose keys on the keyboard. That is to say that there are symbols readily available as second keys on the keyboard. Just by pressing two or more keys simultaneously, you can easily insert such symbols into your work. For instance, pressing Shift + 5 keys give you the percentage (%) symbol.
However, other symbols aren’t printed on the keyboard as second keys. This makes it difficult to type. One of these symbols is the Trademark symbol or TM sign (™).
Typing becomes very tough for you if you need to insert some of these symbols regularly into your work.
But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Especially now that you are reading this guide.
Insert the Trademark symbol in Word/Excel
In the following sections, I will show you all the easy ways to insert this symbol (™) anywhere on your Windows or Mac PC (such as Word or Excel or PowerPoint).
In a couple of minutes, I’ll explain several methods you can use to get this (™) and any other symbol as and when the need arises.
As a quick guide, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to type the TM or Trademark symbol in Microsoft Word. This shortcut works in MS Word only. For Windows users outside MS Word, press down the Alt key and type 0153 code on your numeric keypad. You can also press Option + 2 on Mac.
However, without any further ado, let’s get to work.
Method 1: TM Symbol Shortcuts (Windows and Mac)
The Trademark Symbol Shortcut for Mac is Option + 2.
Windows has several shortcuts, some of which works only in Microsoft Word.
However, there’s a Windows shortcut for the TM Sign that works across all applications. It is the alt code shortcut which is Alt+0153 (will be discussed in the next section).
The Trademark Symbol shortcut for Microsoft Word is Ctrl + Alt + T or 2122, Alt X.
These shortcuts work in Microsoft Word Only.
To use the Trademark symbol shortcut on Windows (for Word), obey the following instructions:
- Place the insertion pointer in the right place.
- Press Ctrl + Alt + T simultaneously. This shortcut will insert the TM Symbol for you.
- Alternatively, type 2122 on your keyboard, then press Alt + X. This will convert the numbers into the TM symbol at where you place the insertion pointer.
- Yet again, you can use MS Word AutoCorrect by typing ™. As soon as you enclose the bracket, it automatically turns into the ™ symbol.
Below is a breakdown on how to use the Trademark symbol shortcut for Mac:
- First of all, place the insertion pointer where you need to insert the symbol.
- Now, using the Mac keyboard, Press Option + 2 simultaneously.
This shortcut should insert the symbol for you on your Mac PC.
In the next section, I’ll show you how to use the TM Symbol Alt Code to type the symbol on your keyboard.
Method 2: Trademark Symbol Alt Code (Windows)
The Trademark (™) Symbol Alt Code is 0153.
Every symbol in Word has a unique code that you can use to insert the symbol into your document. This code is well known as “Alt code”.
Below are the steps to type this symbol on your keyboard (using the Alt code provided above:
- Press the num lock key to enable the numeric keypad. Use Fn key + NumLk keys to turn on Num Lock on laptops without the numeric keypad.
- Press and hold the Alt key and type 0153 using the numeric keypad.
- After typing the Alt code (i.e. 0153), release the [Alt] key you pressed down.
As soon as you release the Alt Key, the Trademark (™) symbol should appear in your document.
Method 3: Copy and paste TM symbol
Use the button below to copy and paste the TM symbol for your work.
My favorite method for inserting symbols I can’t easily type is copy and paste.
With this method, all you need to do is google the symbol you need to type, then copy it from one of the search results provided. Once you get the symbol into your document, you can always recopy and paste it as and when the need arises.
Use the button above to get this symbol on your clipboard.
There is another way to copy this and any other symbol on Windows. It involved using the Windows Character Map.
Obey the steps below to copy and paste any symbol using the character map.
- Search for the Character map app by clicking on the Start button.
- The Character map app will show up in the search results. Click on it to launch.
- After the Character Map window opens up, click to check the Advance View checkbox to expand the window for more advanced options.
- On the Advanced View section, type Trade Mark in the search box.
- The symbol you searched for (i.e. the Trademark symbol) will now appear on the Character map. Double click on it to select it. You’ll see that the symbol appears in the Characters to copy text box. This allows you to select and copy several symbols at the same time.
- After selecting the symbol, you wish to copy, click on the Copy button.
- Switch over to wherever you need the symbol, whether in MS Word, Excel, or PowerPoint and press Ctrl + V to paste.
This is how you may copy and paste the TM sign using the Character Map on Windows.
Method 4: Using Insert Symbol Dialog
This approach isn’t as straight forward as the shortcut methods. But it’s fairly simple.
And once you get the symbol into your document, you can always copy and paste it again as and when you need it in your work.
Below are the steps to insert the TM Sign in Word using the insert symbol dialog.
- Go to the Insert tab.
- On the Insert tab, click the Symbol button and choose More Symbols…
These few clicks will bring up the Symbol dialog box.
- Locate the Symbol you want to insert.
To easily find the Trademark symbol on the Symbols window, look at the top right area of the dialog and select Latin-1 Supplement in the Subset: drop-down list. The Trademark symbol you want to insert is in this category and should appear.
- Select the symbol, and then click on the Insert button.
Alternatively, double-clicking on the symbol will also insert the symbol into your document.
- Click the Close button.
This is how you may insert a Trademark symbol in Word using the insert symbol dialog.
Method 5: Word’s AutoCorrect for the Trademark Sign
You can also type the Trademark Symbol using the AutoCorrect feature in Word.
It is a feature in MS Word designed for correcting spelling mistakes like thsi to this.
Using this AutoCorrect Feature, you can assign a short code to the Trademark symbol (such as TMS).
This way, whenever you type the text TMS, Word will think that you actually wanted to type ™ and will convert it into the Trademark symbol for you automatically.
See illustration below:
What makes this method interesting is that you can assign your own custom shortcut or shortcode to the symbol and Word will automatically insert the symbol whenever you type the code.
Without further ado, below are the steps you can use to type Trademark symbol in Word using AutoCorrect.
- Go to the Insert tab.
- On the Insert tab, go to Symbol and then click More Symbols… The Symbol windows will appear as shown in the below screenshot.
- Locate the Trade mark symbol, then click to select it.
- Click on the AutoCorrect… button to display the AutoCorrect window.
- In the AutoCorrect dialog box, enter the following:
Replace: TMS
With: ™
- Click Add, and then then hit the OK button.
Now, word will automatically insert the Trademark symbol into your document whenever you type TMS.
However, below are some few things to note when you are using the AutoCorrect Method to insert the Trademark sign.
- AutoCorrect is case sensitive. Meaning if you type tms (in lowercase), Word will not convert it into the TM sign unless you type TMS (in uppercase).
- If there is any text before or after the AutoCorrect text, Word will consider the AutoCorrect text as part of the text and hence will not convert it to the Trademark symbol. For example, XTMS will not get converted, but X TMS will get converted to X ™.
Conclusion
As you can see, these are the various ways you may insert or type the TM sign or symbol in Word/Excel with or without using the keyboard.
My favorite method is using the copy and paste method followed by the Trademark symbol shortcut in Word for both Windows and Mac. The Alt Code method also comes handy.
For any comments or questions about this guide, please let me know in the comments section below.
Thanks.